Month: February 2016

Fill in the blank to this well known proverb: “There are only two things certain in this life: death and _____.” Yes—taxes! (Everyone’s favorite subject!) This is the time of year when many of us are filing—or at least thinking about filing—our taxes. Some of us wish we’d taken out more withholdings from paychecks or retirement disbursements. We lament that if we’d made just a little less cash we’d be in a lower tax bracket, but the government is happy to accept the overage. Of course this conversation isn’t confined to the months just before the filing deadline. All year round our elected leaders (and those who hope we will caucus for them on Tuesday night) talk about taxes being misapplied, too high or too low. Taxes are a constant source of conflict and controversy.

Good morning! Thank you again for sticking with these readings even when they’re difficult, and for sharing with me your progress when we meet in person. Your encouragement helps me greatly, and I’m so thankful for that which I’ve heard recently!

Today’s final two chapters of this book (Numbers 35-36) give an interesting window into the Hebrew criminal justice system, and then finish by returning to the question of marriage practices for women with inheritances of land. The concern of these chapters, as throughout the book of Numbers, is the organization of Hebrew life in faithfulness to the promises and sovereignty of God.

Good morning! And then, I’m sad to say that it’s all downhill from that brief greeting. In today’s passage, we see in graphic detail how the writers of Numbers 31 imagined the early fighting and conquest would have gone (and we are likely moved to prayer that it was not actually so). Numbers 32 seeks to answer the question of how some Israelites settled east of the Jordan, when the “Promised Land” was presumably only on the other side, after crossing over the river. The latter chapter needs no further commentary, but the former is truly incendiary.

Good morning! In today’s passage we get further instructions concerning festival sacrifices, and then hear about when the vows of women may be maintained or broken. Both chapters highlight ways of maintaining devotion to God, but the latter one involves obedience to men as well.

Good morning! Today in Numbers 27-28 we first see several stories of new precedents set by new voices who have come of age in the wilderness, then follow it up with a chapter that clarifies the offerings that are to be part of the regular sacrifices of Israel.